1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information input/output system which enables outputting of desired information contents in a host computer with a desired outputting device, such as a printer and a facsimile apparatus, using a terminal such as a cellular phone, a Portable Digital Assistant (PDA), etc. The present invention also relates to a terminal for the system.
2. Discussion of the Background
Recently, with the popularization of portable information terminals such as notebook personal computers and PDAs, and portable communication terminals such as Personal Handy-phone Systems (PDSs) and cellular phones, it has become possible to easily perform document creation and communication, such as electronic mailing, independently of the place where the user is located using such a portable information or communication terminal. Further, using a communication function provided in such a terminal, the user can be provided with various services from a service provider via a network (communication line), such as banking services (e.g., balance checking, money transfer, etc.), and reservation of a ticket (e.g., airline ticket, etc.).
However, portable terminals are not generally provided with a printer to print out a created document or information obtained via various services. Therefore, it is not so easy for a user to print out a created document or obtained information while the user is moving from one place to another. Accordingly, an information input/output system has been proposed in which the user of a portable information terminal can print out desired information with a printer at a designated place.
For example, FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B are flowcharts illustrating an information outputting process of an information input/output system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 10-222527. The flowcharts illustrate a process performed between a PDA and a service center providing a service of printing out desired information at a designated place. FIGS. 27A and 27B illustrate a case wherein a travel information service is provided.
First, a user of the PDA selects a travel information service from among various services by an inputting operation of the PDA (step S201). The user then inputs from it the PDA retrieving and outputting request data specifying traveling information of the user, such as the starting place, the destination, the transportation way, a data outputting destination, etc. (step S202). The system then transmits retrieving and outputting request information of the inputted retrieving and outputting request data to the service center (step S203).
The service center receives the above retrieving and outputting request information (step S211), and first confirms the transportation way (step S212). For example, when the transportation way is specified as a car (step S212, car), the service center retrieves map information from an existing database based upon information of the starting place and destination received at the same time, and edits a road map (step S213). When the transportation way is specified as a train (step S212, train), the service center retrieves time table information from an existing database based upon the information of the starting place and destination, and edits a train time table from the starting place to the destination (step S214).
The service center then generates information relevant to the information generated in steps S213 and S214 (step S215). For example, information relating to sightseeing in the vicinity of the destination and weather information are generated. Then, the outputting destination (a printer, a display screen of a PDA, etc.) for outputting the generated information is determined (step S216) according to the data outputting destination designated by the user in step S204.
For example, when a display screen of a PDA is designated by the user (step S204, own terminal; step S216, PDA), the service center transmits the generated information to the PDA (step S217), and the PDA outputs the information in the display screen of the PDA (step S205).
When a printer is designated by the user (step S204, other printer, step S216, other printer), the service center retrieves various facilities such as convenience stores, gas stations, toll stations of highways, etc., generates an outputting destination candidates list, and transmits the list to the PDA (step S218). The PDA then displays the list in the display screen of the PDA (step S206). The user selects an outputting destination from among the candidates in the list, and transmits outputting destination designation information to the service center (step S207). The service center receives the outputting destination designation information (step S219), and transmits the information which has been generated in advance, such as map or timetable information, to the designated outputting destination, and controls a printer at the designated outputting destination to print out the information (step S220).
Thus, in the above-described information input/output system, even when a user of a portable information terminal (e.g., a PDA) travels from one place to another, the user can selectively change the outputting destination as the user changes the traveling destination according to the services provided from the service center, so that desired information can be easily printed by a printer at a designated outputting destination.
However, some outputting apparatuses (e.g., printers) in the currently available information input/output systems can only print information onto a sheet of a specific size, e.g., an A4 size sheet, or can only output information of a specific file. When an outputting request is made to an outputting apparatus specifying a sheet size or a file that cannot be outputted with the outputting apparatus, an operational or outputting error is caused in the outputting apparatus.
In information services provided to portable information terminals that can be connected with the Internet, desired information contents are generally obtained via a menu of multi-level layers. Information contents on the Internet are generally diverse and the number of information contents is huge. When desired information contents are difficult for a user to read on a display screen of a terminal, which is typically relatively small, the user generally wishes to print out the contents. In this case, the user may wish to print information contents selected on the display screen of the terminal. However, a system has not been available which allows the user to input a printing request after displaying desired information contents on a display screen of a terminal or after selecting desired information contents in a menu being displayed on the display screen of the terminal.
Generally, for inputting a printing request, after displaying desired information contents on a display screen of a terminal or after selecting desired information contents in a menu being displayed on the display screen, another menu having a printing instruction must be opened, or a printing button must be provided at a part of the information contents being displayed on the display screen. In this case, addition of another menu or change of the information contents is necessary. However, when the number of information contents is huge, change of each information contents is troublesome and time consuming. When another menu having a printing instruction is provided at the bottom part of a menu, when menu items are many, a long scrolling operation is necessary to reach the printing instruction in the menu, which is troublesome.
Further, some information terminals display an address of information contents. In this case, when a menu of multi-level layers is used, the address is relatively long, and therefore some users wish the address not to be displayed.
Furthermore, image information has been strongly desired to be provided to portable terminals connected with the Internet. However, generally, information can be received by a portable terminal as long as the information can be displayed in a display screen of the terminal. Typically, portable terminals can receive image data of a relatively small size or text data of up to about 256 characters. When information is of relatively large size and cannot be displayed in the display screen of the terminal, a part of the information is deleted, so that the received information is not accurate. A method may be conceivable to attach a dedicated printer to each portable terminal, so that image information can be outputted with the attached printer while being received by the terminal. However, such a printer is relatively expensive, large, and heavy, and is not well suited to be carried.
Furthermore, when information contents are obtained and outputted with an outputting apparatus using a terminal via a network, an appropriate billing system for billing the user of the terminal for the obtained information contents is required. A copying machine installed, for example, at a convenience store is generally provided with a fee collecting device, so that each time prints are made with the copying machine, the fee for the prints is paid. Furthermore, recently, a system for remotely diagnosing copying machines in the field has been proposed, and some copying machines in convenience stores are provided with the function of being remotely diagnosed by the system. The fee collecting device provided to the copying machines installed at convenience stores generally uses a billing system in which the fee for prints changes according to the number of prints. Typically, the fee per print decreases as the number of prints increases. Therefore, when fee-charging information contents obtained using a portable terminal are printed with a copying machine provided with a fee collecting device having such a billing system, and the outputting fee collected by the fee collecting device is to be distributed between the provider of the fee-charging information contents and the provider of the copying machine, appropriate distribution of the outputting fee is troublesome.
In a method of accessing information contents and outputting the information contents with a facsimile machine using a cellular phone, which has been previously proposed by the present applicant, when outputting the contents, a user must access a printing request administration server for designating a print outputting facsimile apparatus. In the above-described method of outputting information contents with a facsimile apparatus, the user generally operates his or her cellular phone to access desired information contents in front of the facsimile apparatus installed, for example, in a convenience store, with which the user desires to output the desired information contents. The user then accesses the printing request administration server, and designates the facsimile apparatus in front of the user for the print outputting destination device, so that the desired information contents are printed by the facsimile apparatus.
However, when the facsimile apparatus is installed in a building where radio communication is not possible, to access the desired information contents with the cellular phone, the user must move to a place where the radio communication is possible. Therefore, so that the user can designate the facsimile apparatus in front of the user for the print outputting destination device, the user must record the facsimile number of the facsimile apparatus before moving to the place where the radio communication is possible, which is troublesome.